1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the digital creation of fur. More particularly, the present invention relates to the digital creation of realistic close-up and distant looks of fur coats on animal models.
2. Art Background
One of the many challenges in modeling, animating and rendering believable mammals in computer graphics has been to produce realistic-looking fur. A real fur coat is made up of hundreds of thousands of individual, cylindrical hairs covering the skin, and fulfills vital functions such as protection against cold and predators. Between animals as well as across the body of individual animals, the look and structure of these hairs vary greatly with respect to length, thickness, shape, color, orientation and under/overcoat composition. In addition, fur is not static, but moves and breaks up as a result of the motion of the underlying skin and muscles, and also due to external influences, such as wind and water.
Some prior computer graphics techniques used for fur creation have achieved convincing looks of smooth fur; however, these techniques do not take into account that real fur often breaks up at certain areas of the body, such as around the neck. In addition, the prior methods do not account for hairs of wet fur that clump together resulting in a significantly different appearance compared to dry fur. Also, the process of simulating hair as it is getting increasingly wet when sprinkled on by water has not yet been addressed.